


Sam Hain breaks the rules

by LeDiz



Series: The 48: Dreamworks [7]
Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Gen, Hallowe'en, Kinda, Sam Hain - Freeform, jack being a good guy, pagan mythology, yes I know he's not a real myth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-19
Updated: 2016-08-19
Packaged: 2018-08-09 17:47:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7811350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeDiz/pseuds/LeDiz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Toothiana is out collecting teeth one All Hallows Eve and spots Jack proving what they should have known all along.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sam Hain breaks the rules

It had been a good night.

Tooth drifted lazily through the air as she peered into her little sack of teeth, sighing dreamily at all the memories, all the sweet care they’d taken. Her fairies zipped around her, still gathering, but she had only allocated herself a hundred houses – it had been a long time since she’d been in the field properly and had wanted to enjoy it. She was done for the moment.

With a happy twirl, she tucked the teeth away and prepared to fly back home, but a flash of white caught her eye and she paused, turning to follow it. She blinked rapidly at the sight of none other than Jack Frost scampering over the rooftops below, leaving an obviously unconscious trail of frost on the gutters behind him.

It was October, and they were in the southern hemisphere. As far as she knew, he rarely came to this part of the world and barely ever at this time of year. Was he looking for her?

“Jack!”

As it always did, it took him a moment to register her shout. He wasn’t used to people acknowledging him, and so it wasn’t unusual for him to ignore the sound of his own name until he recognised the voice. But after a few seconds, he twisted around to see her and then jumped against a second-story wall to halt his momentum, clinging to a drainpipe as he gestured with his staff for quiet. She frowned, confused, and he lifted his fingers in a tiny wave before lowering all but one and repeating the gesture.

They barely had to worry about children hearing them, and Jack of all people was the last she’d expect to think of it, so she fluttered down to join him, keeping her voice lowered to humour him. “What’s wrong? Are you looking for me?”

“What? No. Didn’t even know you were here,” he said quietly. “I’m really glad to see you and all, Tooth, but I’m kinda busy –”

“Jack, you’re not going to prank someone are you?” she asked, but it was difficult to hide her smile. “I know it’s not your time of year to be here.”

“It’s spring; it’s _allowed_ ,” he protested with a grin, but shook his head. “I’m not here for pranks, and I am really sorry, but I really do have to go.”

And with that, he pushed off the roof and into the wind, using it to make up for lost time by flying over the houses. She tilted her head thoughtfully, then silently followed.

She knew frost did come to this place, but from what she understood, it was more common in the early hours of the morning near dawn, not just after midnight. So even if she was wrong about the seasonal cycle and he were here for some kind of work she didn’t quite believe he bothered with, he was doing it very early. The whole thing seemed suspicious, especially when she saw him drop down in the courtyard of a large house near the local university, lights still on in multiple rooms and music drifting out of the windows.

She didn’t know this house. There were no children here – there were barely any children in the whole neighbourhood. “Jack, what –”

“Tooth!” he hissed, spinning around. “What are you doing here?”

“That’s my question!” she insisted.

He just stared at her for a few seconds, then quickly looked up at the sky, and then around at the corners. Seeing nothing, he sighed and gestured her closer, seemingly annoyed when she remained hovering. He snatched her wrist and yanked her down to the ground before lifting the hand holding his staff to shush her for a third time. “Shhh.”

“Why are we being quiet?” she whispered. “There aren’t any children for two blocks in any direction, and no believers for six.”

“We’re not worried about mortals,” he replied, and gently pulled her with him as he crept toward the window. “Don’t you know what day it is?”

“Thursday?”

“October thirty-first,” he corrected with a grin. “It’s Halloween, Tooth. And this house is having a séance.”

She raised an eye ridge. “You _are_ playing pranks.”

He smirked, but she noticed a slight edge to it that meant she’d touched on something he didn’t like thinking about. “I’ll have you know I haven’t tried to use a séance in two hundred and fifty years.”

She considered pushing that line of questioning, but decided that was territory Jack would thank her to leave alone and instead asked, “So why are we here?”

“To make sure no one else does, either. Do you know Sam Hain?”

She frowned, trying to think. Despite his lack of believers, Jack was relatively famous, and even then she had mostly known him because of his beautiful teeth. Not only that, but Sam Hain sounded like a Western legend, so she was a little out of her element. “Is he a seasonal spirit, like you?”

“Technically,” he said with a wince. “He’s the spirit of the end of harvest.”

“ _End_ of harvest? We’re in the southern hemisphere! It’s spring!”

“Yeah, and either way, this country doesn’t exactly follow Gaelic traditions,” he said. “He’s breaking rules and that means _I’m_ allowed to tear up the playbook.”

“What is it? How do you know he’s coming here? Jack, what’s going on?”

He winced again. “Yeah, I don’t really have time to answer this, Tooth. Shouldn’t you be getting back to the palace?”

“Jack.”

Whatever he was going to say was cut off as the music did, and his hand tightened on her wrist, making her realise he hadn’t let it go yet. She blushed, even as she realised her hand was going slightly numb with cold and had to pull away, making him glance at her with a guilty smile. But rather than comment, he used the distance to begin creeping toward the window again. She followed, and peeked over his shoulder into the window.

It was a group of girls, probably in their early twenties. Most of them were dressed in black, with the kind of heavy, silly make-up girls tended to wear on Halloween. They were all giggling and trying not to as they sat in a tight circle, a single candle lighting the room and several bowls with feathers and other trinkets around them.

“Okay, okay, are we doing this, or what?” one of the girls asked, forcing herself to keep a straight face. It lasted about thirty seconds, but she quickly pushed down her smile. “We ready?”

“Ready!” the other girls chorused.

Jack sighed and shook his head, but Tooth noticed he was still smiling. Knowing his general timeline, she could guess that he probably came from an era when this sort of thing was considered the epitome of stupid, but between his still-faulty memories and his love of anything that could be considered even remotely fun, he probably loved it all the same.

But when a picture frame inside the house suddenly flashed in the candlelight, his smile immediately vanished, and Tooth instinctively grabbed his shoulders. The girls hadn’t noticed. “What was that?”

“Shh,” he ordered, and gripped his staff, watching carefully.

As the girls began to chant, a wall ornament made of glittering silver caught the light, and Jack narrowed his eyes before looking around. “This country and its flyscreens,” he muttered, and Tooth glanced at him before she remembered. Unlike most immortals, Jack Frost couldn’t get in anywhere unless you left a door or window open. She smiled and focussed before using her own powers to push him right through the wall. He stiffened at the sensation, but managed to keep silent as he stumbled onto the carpet, and shot her a confused if grateful glance before refocussing on the room at large.

The candle flickered, and Tooth squeaked as a dark shape began rising in the corner behind the television. “Pitch?!”

“Hardly,” the shadow snapped, and a young man stepped out of the darkness. He was tall and thin, with scraggly red hair and heavy set blue eyes. He carried a farmer’s scythe that he pointed at Jack, over the head of the girls. “Pushing your luck, Frost?”

“Hey, I get my social interaction where I can get it,” he said playfully.

“From what I hear you have plenty of people to speak to now. And now I see they even bring you places you have no right to enter,” he said, glancing at Tooth before returning to him. “You know, I do believe that the last time we met I promised to melt you into your season, child.”

“Yeah, but I bet you say that to all the boys,” he said, and set his staff down with a thump that sounded very final. The temperature in the room began to drop. “You’re on the wrong side of the world, Hain.”

The man scoffed and swung his scythe, making Tooth scream until she saw it pass harmlessly through the girls. The only thing it did to them was make them all shiver, and then grin at each other, their chanting derailing into excited whispers about spirits and being touched by the dead. Jack slammed his staff down again, and thunder cracked somewhere outside. The girls fell silent, staring up at the ceiling, but went ignored by the three immortals around them.

“Oh, please. Enough with the theatrics,” the stranger snapped. “Aren’t you a _Guardian_ now? These girls aren’t children. And they’re calling on the dark forces; they’re practically inviting me to take one of them!”

“That’s not what you do, this isn’t your season, and it definitely isn’t your place,” Jack shot back. “Go play with the Neo-celtics, or that portal from last year. The leprechaun hasn’t stopped whining about it since; you might as well enjoy it.”

“Am I supposed to apologise?” he asked, then paused, leaning away for a moment with narrowed eyes. “Did your mother send you?”

“Mother?” Tooth interjected, and the boys both looked at her as if they’d forgotten she was there.

Sam Hain scoffed again. “Oh, I _am_ impressed with the Guardians now. Surely you must know the winter sprite’s mother.”

“She’s not my mother,” Jack said, almost absently, before explaining to Tooth, “Mother Nature. And no, she didn’t send me. You’re the one screwing with the rules and giving me _reasons_ to kick your butt.”

“Oh, but you won’t,” he said with a dark smile. “You make your big threats, Frost, but you don’t fight. And you’re even less welcome in this country than I am. How is the hole in the ozone layer treating you, by the way?”

Tooth looked at him again, but Jack only shifted his weight to the other foot with a dangerous smile. “You know, it’s funny you brought up that guardian thing before. Turns out I’ve always been one, I just didn’t know it. Turns out I’m a lot of things I didn’t know. I can fight, for example, and oh, yes. You know that thing where you bring the dead to the living?”

Sam Hain narrowed his eyes, not following, and Jack grinned.

“Well, here I am.”

Both Sam Hain and Tooth looked at him sharply. “What?”

“Yeah. Turns out I took a little detour through humanity before becoming an immortal. Who knew, right?” he asked, and then winked. “So there you go: you did your job and brought a dead guy to the worshippers asking for it. But before you get too cocky, I should point out that as a guardian, I get _bonuses_ from belief systems.”

Sam Hain paled, but managed to set his jaw, gripping his scythe protectively. “You’re bluffing. You don’t even fight, you can’t be –”

“Go ahead and call; I’ve got the hand for it,” he replied, and then leapt up, spinning through the air as he brought his staff up and over to slam down directly in the middle of the girls’ circle. They all screamed at the vibration it caused, and a strong wind billowed up and around Jack’s staff to slam out across the room, blowing out all the candles and casting them into darkness. The only light came from the glow of Jack’s frost and an unearthly white shine to his eyes. “I warned you before, Fall Boy. I can’t normally touch you, but you being in the southern hemisphere in October means all bets are off. Now I’m only gonna say this once more: get back to your side of the world.”

 Sam Hain didn’t verbally respond, but he did slide back into the shadows and away, watching Jack the whole time. Tooth waited until he was gone before turning to her friend, eyes wide in horror. “Oh, Jack, I had no idea –”

“Uh, yeah, thanks for the sympathy an’ all, but we have a situation to deal with first,” he said, tossing her another grin before refocussing on the girls around him. They were almost silent, only soft whimpers emerging as they peered around the dark room. Jack bit his finger, looking thoughtful, before he snickered and jumped over them, floating on an impossible breeze until he was directly in front of the open hallway door. He nudged it, just enough for the door to creak, and the girls shrieked as they spun toward it.

“Jack, what are you –”

He cut her off by lifting his staff high above his head in both hands, closing his eyes, and stepping very slowly and deliberately forward. Rather than skip across the carpet as he usually would, he took slow, heavy steps, and it wasn’t until the girls all hissed in a breath and started whispering to each other in barely suppressed screams that Tooth noticed each step left behind a glittering silver footprint of ice.

“Wh-who are you?” one of the girls demanded. “S-sp-spirit, I r-request that y-y-you give us your n-n-n-name!”

Jack giggled inanely, and Tooth gasped, clenching her fists in amused disapproval. “Jack Frost, you stop teasing those girls this instant! They’re terrified!”

“Oh, they are not,” he said, as he used his staff to vault over to the picture they’d first seen Sam Hain’s presence in. He touched it with one finger, frost creeping out across the glass. “They’re having a bit of fun. Besides, they _did_ want to talk to a dead guy tonight. What’s a good, generic name? Someone that sounds like he would’ve died to a flu or something?”

“Jack, this isn’t funny!”

“Matt. There’s always a Matt around here,” he said, and traced the name into the frosted glass backwards, as if seen from a mirror. Sure enough, the girls all gasped and grabbed each other.

“Matt Donnelly! I was wondering why he wasn’t in class this year!”

“Oh my god, he _died_?”

“Wait, didn’t he just withdraw? I heard he moved interstate or something.”

“No, he totally died! Who else would the spirit be?”

“We like, summoned a spirit! Oh my god!”

They all squealed, Jack danced on the spot with his success, and even Tooth had to smile despite her disapproval. It did feel like fun, even when Jack threw out a blast of wind that stopped the screams and had the girls grabbing at each other again.

“I think we made it mad.”

“What do we do?”

“I don’t know. Mare, this was your idea, do something!”

Tooth struggled to force down her smile and glare. “Jack, that’s enough.”

“Oh, alright, alright,” he said with a loud sigh, though Tooth noticed it was accompanied by a wind so cold it added a frame of frost to every glass surface in the room. She gave him an admonishing look and he grinned. “If it makes you feel any better, we’re protecting them. Because they’re scared, chances are they’ll never try and summon spirits again and Hain will have to stay away!”

“Yes, I’m sure that’s what you had in mind,” she deadpanned, and he snickered, but leapt over the girls’ heads to bow condescendingly.

“M’lady, if you’d be so kind as to escort me out?” he asked. “Since you don’t want me opening doors and scawing da poor widdle girls.”

She shoved him through the wall. Once he was out, she pulled her hands from the plaster to watch the girls for a few seconds and gauge their fear, suddenly concerned. They were huddled together and staring around at the quickly disappearing frost. One was nervously calling for Matt to talk to them.

Pursing her lips, Tooth flew out of the house, and then gasped when she didn’t immediately see Jack. But she soon found him out on the street, balanced on his staff as he listened to the magpies singing.

“Jack, that wasn’t very nice,” she said, and he looked over his shoulder as if surprised she’d followed him. She huffed and flew a little closer. “Why bother chasing Sam Hain away if you were just going to scare the girls yourself?”

“He wasn’t there to scare them,” he said. “Sam Hain doesn’t care about that sort of thing. He brings demons and steals virgins. At least one of those girls fit the bill.”

At first she pulled back, insulted on the girls’ behalf, but Jack’s look made her pause. After a moment, his lips twisted, and he stared at her, obviously trying not to laugh. “Whoa, Tooth. You really do need to get out more.”

“Wha –”

“Oh, please don’t tell me you also only think it happens in marriage,” he said, and physically bit back a cackle. “Oh, Tooth. Tooth. No. Oh…!”

She fought the urge to defend herself and her sensibilities, but really knew she couldn’t. Times had changed. She was the one who’d let herself stay sequestered away in a palace for the better part of four hundred years. She settled for a blushing pout. “Why?”

It was a little satisfying to see Jack nearly fall off his staff. “Why does it happen outside –”

“No! I believe I can figure that out!” she cried, even though she wasn’t sure she could. It wasn’t as though she had practical experience. “I meant why does Sam Hain take girls?”

“Oh,” He paused, finished the fall he’d barely stopped, and swung his staff up and over his shoulders. “Don’t know. I hear the rise of Halloween and Neo-paganism messed up his head, but he was always a little creepy if you ask me.”

“I’ve never heard of him,” she said quietly.

Jack glanced around at the guilt in her tone, and then smiled kindly. “Hain’s not like us. He’s a personification, not an actual immortal. You shouldn’t worry about it.”

She blinked, and he tilted his head back against his staff, trying to remember how Mother Nature had explained it to him. “Hain doesn’t really exist. And I don’t mean that metaphorically, or like how you and the others would disappear without kids’ belief. I mean that Samhain is a celebration, and a legend, but only has a human form because I give him one. It’s easier to combat him that way.”

“What?”

He sighed, and then said a word that sounded like the word ‘samhain’, but only if you believed words could be thrown in a blender. “—was originally a Gaelic festival to celebrate the end of harvest. Give or take a few hundred years, it became Halloween. There’s never been an actual spirit of Halloween, though I hear there’s a few spirits jockeying for the job. Lotta pumpkins,” he added vaguely. “But the legends surrounding the festival have always manifested themselves in the human world. Demons, ghosts and all sorts of nasties coming out all over. And that’s fine for the people who expect it. People who just acknowledge Halloween, but don’t celebrate it, like down here?” He shook his head. “They shouldn’t have to deal with that. But fighting something that doesn’t actually exist is a little easier said than done. Luckily, being magical spirits and personifications of legends, folks like you and me can bend the rules of reality just enough to get a form out of it.”

Tooth tilted her head, only just following. “Something for you to fight?”

“More like visualise,” he said. “You heard the freak.  Fighting is a new thing for me. But yeah. I can see him, I can scare him off. Usually.”

“I think I understand,” she said slowly, and flinched when Jack abruptly skipped away, up onto a fence and then a rooftop, running off. She hesitated, then followed, and knew he didn’t mind when he tossed her another grin. For a few minutes, she dodged and weaved through the wind with him in silence, enjoying the night, but her mind kept going back to the girls, and everything Jack had said.

It wasn’t until they had left the city behind and Jack had jumped into the wind proper, leading her across the ocean and back toward the equator that she sorted her thoughts out enough to speak again.

“Why do you fight him, though?”

“Fight who?”

She rolled her eyes. It hadn’t been _that_ long since they’d been talking. “Sam Hain.”

“Oh. Because he’s a freak that steals virgins that don’t know he’s coming for them,” he said, staring at her as if it should have been obvious.

In a way, she thought, it probably was obvious. For all his mischief and tricks, Jack was a good person, and he’d been a guardian long before anyone had offered him the oath. But, and this was the crux of it for Tooth, apparently Jack hadn’t just protected children. They were his preferred playmates, but not the only ones who felt the snow… and not the only ones he watched over.

They should have known he was a guardian so much sooner.

She sighed and smiled, shaking her head as she put on a burst of speed to overtake the wind. “It’s my turn to show _you_ up, Jack Frost! Race you to the Tooth Palace!”

Jack only laughed and took her up on the challenge, hiding all that heroism and responsibility behind the silly, careless prankster everyone had always thought he was.

**Author's Note:**

> The 48 are a collection of unfinished or pointless fics saved to my hard drive. They are now posted here in case people are interested or have wish to adopt them.
> 
> For the record, I can't pronounce Samhain, but I do know there's no actual personification thereof. But this is Jack making up the rules to combat an unknowable force, so take it as you will. We'll blame that as the reason this never got anywhere beyond the 48.


End file.
